After The Sinjin Scooter Incident
by Lushcoltrane
Summary: After an accident at school, Tori finds herself playing nursemaid to her girlfriend. Takes place about a week following "After Tori's Special Errand".


**I've hit a snag on the next part of "Violated" so there will be a slight delay in that story. In the meantime, I have this new installment of the "After" series. Hope you enjoy this.**

After The Sinjin Scooter Incident

Tori handed Jade her coffee and asked, "How's your arm? Does it still hurt?"

Jade snarled, then, in her Sweet Sally Sunshine voice, asked, "However is yore ay-ess? Does it stey-all hurt?"

Thanks to Jade's surprisingly tender ministrations, Tori's stencil-style tattoo hadn't bothered the singer for over a week. The newly inked teen, who was about to sit next to her girlfriend, moved over to the twin couch and sat. "I don't talk like that. And my ass is fine!"

"Well, guess what? My arm isn't!" Jade growled.

"You want some naproxen? Or some of that prescription stuff? The hydro…whatever?"

"Hydrocodone," Jade interrupted her but nodding. "And don't tell me _again_ how it made you constipated! I don't care. Just get me a couple of tabs."

With a hurt look on her face, Tori grabbed the small prescription vial off the kitchen counter. She read the instructions for the umpteenth time ('1 to 2 tablets every 4 hours as needed'), looked at the clock to make sure it wasn't too soon after the last dose, took out two pills and got a glass of water.

Returning to the living room, she handed Jade the pills and waited for her to put them in her mouth. Then, when her right hand was free again, she handed the glass of water over. Jade made an overly dramatic gulping sound as she swallowed the painkiller.

"Thank you," Jade muttered as she handed the glass back. When Tori returned from the kitchen again, she added, "Sorry I've been such a bitch. I… Being dependent on someone really hurts me – and not in a good way."

"Jade, it's okay to rely on people when you're sick or hurt."

"Not for me. I've been doing for myself for so long, I forgot how to let other's do for me."

"Well, I'll help you try to remember. I love doting on you, Jade."

Jade chuckled and smirked at Tori, "Even when I bite your head off?"

"Well, how else will I know it's you?" Tori teased.

"It's all because of that fu… That freakin' Sinjin!" Jade growled. "It's all his fault."

#

The previous Friday, at the end of school, Sinjin Van Cleef was sitting on his scooter at the far end of the Asphalt Café, near the food truck, talking to some freshmen girls who were friends of his sister, Courtney. They were about the only girls in the school who thought he was cool, mainly because he was an upperclassman.

Trying to speak in a deeper than normal voice, he said, "Sure I can pop a wheelie with my hog."

The three girls squealed and, suddenly, Sinjin realized he had to do it somehow. He started to rev the small scooter. Then he gunned it and yanked back on the grips.

Probably due to a small bump in the asphalt, he got the front wheel off the ground and the scooter raced across the café, just barely missing the scattered tables and benches. As he neared the parking lot, the front wheel started to drop.

Meanwhile, Jade, Tori and Andre were on the pavement between the Asphalt Café and the student parking lot. Jade was gesturing with her left hand towards her car. She had her bag over her right shoulder and yet another cup of coffee in her right hand. "C'mon Tori. I'm over by that red…"

Jade's words were choked off when Sinjin's scooter came down on her arm and she cried out, falling to the pavement. Tori ran over to her, screaming, "JADE!"

Sinjin landed, glanced over his should and saw Jade lying face down. Concerned, he put the scooter in reverse and ended up backing over her extended left hand, near the wrist. Tori could hear the crack of the bone even as Jade screamed out in agony.

Realizing what he did, Sinjin's eyes widened and he quickly restarted the scooter and tore out of the parking lot. Again, he rolled over Jade's arm and Jade screamed again.

"Sinjin!" Andre yelled uselessly. Then he grabbed his phone, "I'll call 9-11."

Tori tried to turn Jade over without moving her arm too much. Jade whimpered and cried out once then lay quietly, her head pillowed in Tori's lap as the brunette tried to keep her tears from falling onto Jade's face.

#

X-rays showed Jade's radius was broken near the wrist. The end of the bone was loose and looked like a large metacarpal bone amid the normal metacarpals. The length of the radius was also out of place, still aligned with the ulna but with the wrong orientation.

One of the ER staff, a male nurse, deadened the area around break then used a hanging contraption to hold Jade's arm vertically. It was like a set of wire mesh finger gloves that gripped her own fingers, holding the arm vertically to assist with the realignment of the bone.

David Vega, Tori's father happened to be at the hospital on a case and, as soon as he heard about Jade's accident, came to check on his girls. He kissed tori on her forehead then did the same to Jade, asking, "How are you doing?"

"Better since they shot me up with pain killers," Jade said in a clear voice. The slightly dilated pupils were the only real indication she was drugged so far. "Tori, we're even now."

"Huh?"

"We've both broken both our arms," Jade stated.

"Well, I didn't really break my arms. They were broken by…" She broke off, having not told her parents about the Gorilla Club. Instead, Tori nodded. She remembered the pain after her 'accident' at the Club. She tried to forget the subsequent audition she lost as a result of two broken arms.

David gave Tori a one-handed hug, saying, "At least you learned what you can't do on a bicycle at night."

Not wanting to compound her lie, given her normal inability to stretch the truth, Tori merely grunted in acknowledgment.

David quickly called Jade's mother to let her know what happened and ensured her that everything was okay. He handed his phone to Jade so she could talk to her now worried mother.

Glancing at the apparatus Jade was 'plugged' in to, David said, "That looks like a bunch of those old Chinese handcuffs we used to play with. Put your fingers in each end in of a mesh tube made of straw and then try to pull free. The mesh tightens and your fingers are stuck."

"Dad… Chinese handcuffs?"

"Yeah, well, we weren't too PC when I was a kid," David explained by way of an apology.

One of the nurses came in and felt the fracture. "Still not shifting enough. I'll give it a few more minutes though. How's the pain?"

"I'm good," Jade said.

Ten minutes later, the nurse came back and felt the arm again. He shook his head, "I guess we'll have to massage it back into place. Before I start, do you feel any pain or discomfort yet?"

"Nope!" Jade said brightly. Tori knew she was feeling the drugs more as the Goth was too peppy for the Jade she knew.

He began to gently grip and rub the arm in a downward motion for several minutes. Jade could feel his hands but not much else. Soon, he was finished and said, "I'll get the plaster and we'll get you taken care of. Doctor Charles will be in shortly. She's been studying your x-rays and will talk to you about this."

Both George, the nurse, and Charles, the doctor came in. George let Dr. Charles look and feel the arm as she said, "I'm Nora Charles. How are you Ms. West?"

"Much better since you guys doped me up."

Tori couldn't help but ask, "Nora Charles? Really?"

The doctor nodded in acknowledgement. "My parents were big fans of the Thin Man movies." She smiled, "I'm surprised someone your age knows about them."

"She watches TCM all the time. Makes me watch 'em too," Jade interjected.

"You love those classics too," Tori argued with a smile. Her Jade was still in there.

"Well, Ms. West…"

"Call me Jade."

Dr. Charles smiled, "Okay, Jade. The break is pretty severe. What exactly happened?"

"Sinjin happened," Jade snarled.

Tori smiled again as she again saw her girl beneath the pain killers. Then she explained, "We're seniors at Hollywood Arts. We were leaving for the day when…"

After Jade and Tori described the incident, Dr. Charles shook her head, "He popped a wheelie on a scooter? How did…"

Jade shook her head, "You don't know Sinjin…"

"Alrighty then," the doctor said with a reassuring smile. "Well, the bad news is that you're break is fairly serious. A cast might work but I think you'll be better off consulting an orthopedic surgeon."

David said, "We have one. He's practically on staff…"

"Are you her father?"

"No. Jade lives with us. She and my daughter are…really close."

Jade snickered and said, "We're girlfriends…"

Nora Charles smiled in understanding. She directed the next question to the adult, "And Jade's parents?"

Before David could say anything, Jade sneered the first part of her response, "Dear old Dad doesn't want to have anything to do with me. I'm a dirty… Never mind. Mom and my little brother are up in Frisco seeing an old friend."

At Nora Charles request, David again called Jade's mother so she could talk to the doctor.

Meanwhile, George began to wrap Jade's arm after releasing her fingers from the suspension device.

#

Jade went home with a cast from her elbow to her hand. The painkillers were wearing off but the Goth didn't seem to be uncomfortable. Except when Tori kept asking her if she was okay.

"Yes, Vega, for the hundredth time, I'm okay. Just let me relax for a while."

Tori shook her head, "You're impossible."

Jade smiled, "Yeah, I know."

"Anyway, you know if you need anything, I'm here for you."

Almost grudgingly, Jade said, "Thanks, Vega."

David pocketed his PearPhone. "Jade, I spoke to Dr. Summers. He's got a slot tomorrow at 11."

"On a Saturday?" Jade asked.

"Yeah, he has half-days on Saturday."

#

Jim Summers, the orthopedic surgeon, laughed, "David, it's a good thing I know you. Too many visits by your kids and I'd have to call Family Services…"

"Ha-ha-ha… Not funny. I've seen too many cases of child abuse."

"I'm not his kid," Jade added needlessly.

Nodding the doctor apologized, "Sorry Dave. Now, Jade, you have a serious fracture. We can try to let it set as is but you'll lose some, maybe a lot of your mobility. And it might be painful once the cast comes off. Depending on how the bone knits."

"O-kay," Jade replied guardedly.

"What I'd prefer is some minor surgery. A titanium plate would be attached to both portions of your radius to hold the bone together and let the bone knit into a more natural shape.

"It's out-patient. You come into the hospital in that morning and leave in the afternoon. We make an incision about an inch long right here," he indicated the spot on his wrist. "We use small screws to attach the plate to the radius to hold the two parts together."

"Will the plate be permanent?"

"Yes, but you won't even know it's there."

"So, I'll have two plates in me," Jade observed. Then she explained the long ago swing set accident.

The surgery was set for Monday.

#

Taking the day off from school with her parents' reluctant okay, Tori went with Jade as her father drove them to the hospital. She sat in the pre-op room with Jade then waited in a nearby waiting room after Jade was taken in for the procedure.

"Jade, Tori, I have to go to work. Call me when you need me. I'll be here in a heartbeat," David said. "I'm sorry your mother couldn't make it back."

Just hours before the Wests were due to fly back to LA, a strong tremor struck the Bay Area centered near San Francisco International Airport, grounding all flights for several days. The neighboring airports were either similarly out of commission or swamped with people trying to fly out of the metro area. Rental cars were as rare as hens' teeth as a result of the quake as well.

After a couple of hours, Jade was given a couple of shots and then wheeled towards the OR.

An hour later, Tori was becoming concerned and continually pestered the nurses for word on Jade. Finally, after two more hours, Dr. Summers came out.

"Jade is fine. She'll be out for another hour or so but she'll be fine. I doubt the scar will even be too noticeable after it heals."

"And the cast?"

"Two weeks then I'll evaluate her progress. I'd estimate about four weeks before she won't need it anymore."

"Four weeks, that's not so bad," Tori replied, remembering her casts were on for nearly six weeks. But she did have multiple fractures from the gorilla.

"Thank you Doctor. Can I see her?"

"Of course." Dr. Summers turned to one of the nurses, "Can you show Ms. Vega to the recovery room Ms. West is in?"

Jade was laying back, her mouth open with a trickle of drool, as she slept off the anesthesia. Her left arm had a new cast that mainly covered her forearm. The pale girl seemed even more ashen to Tori's worried eyes.

There was a TV in the room so she turned it on and watched old reruns as her soulmate slept.

Finally, Jade opened her eyes a bit and whispered hoarsely, "'m thirsy."

"JADE!" Tori exclaimed.

"Wa'er…"

Tori held up a cup with a bendy straw to Jade's lips and let her sip a little before she took it back.

Jade smiled broadly and in a still hoarse voice said, "Thanooo. Ya know so'thin'?"

"What Jade?" Tori replied, an equally big smile of relief on her face.

"Yer cute," Jade declared. "Yer real cute!" Tori knew Jade loved her but she never expected to hear those words from her. The half-Latina's heart sped up.

"And you're stoned," Tori finally responded.

"Yeah, bu' in th' mornin', yooll sti' be cute." Jade giggled, "We bo' be cute."

Snickering at her drugged girlfriend, Tori said, "Yes, we will be."

Quietly, Tori turned her PearPhone camera on and asked Jade to repeat what she said. The brunette knew she'd probably never hear the word 'cute' come out of Jade's mouth again and wanted a record for herself.

And to torture Jade with from time to time.

#

And so, a couple of days later, Tori was sitting with her girlfriend as the hydrocodone kicked in. Jade's face relaxed as the pain subsided.

"Tori?"

"Yes Jade," Tori sighed. While not as bad as Trina, this woman, who claimed to hate being doted on, was relishing Tori as her hand servant – in some cases literally.

"My pits are getting fuzzy."

"And?"

"Well, we aren't in France. I want them smooth. I can do the left one but I can't shave under my right arm," Jade stated, glancing at her arm in the sling.

Tori groaned, "Oh god…" Then she remembered her mother's depilatory cream. "Mom has this Swedish cream that…"

"Tried that. Just gave me a rash."

"How 'bout a laser hair-removal treatment? My treat?" Tori offered.

"NO!"

"C'mon Jade…"

"Tori, did you or did you not say you'd do anything for me?"

"Well… Not in those exact words…"

"Alright then. Did you or did you not…"

"Alright! I'll do it!"

"And while we're at it, I'm getting a bit bushy…" Jade glanced down at her lap.

Tori rolled her eyes and sighed. At least four more weeks of this…

"You know, it's a good thing I love you, West."

Jade gave Tori a wicked smile, "Yeah it is…"


End file.
